The Mightiest Boulder
by Zarius
Summary: Doc Terror unleashes a rock-raising device on the Hawaian islands, can the Centurions bring the area's now gigantic structures down to Earth?


**CENTURIONS**

"**THE MIGHTIEST BOULDER"**

**WRITTEN BY ZARIUS**

As night slowly began to cloak the daylight, hard-working researchers at the mountain climbing and observation facility somewhere near the Hawaiian islands were preparing to pass the torch to the nightshift workers, and to retire to the local village where they were staying for the duration of their tenure there, ready to sleep away the remainder of the dark and to embrace a hectic morning.

As the shifts began, security made their preparations. Surveillance cameras were examined, and regular patrols of the facility's more secretive divisions. Very few were "in the know" about what kind of work the facility's researches, representing the world council of scientists, were developing there.

The hours to follow would wear down anyone who wasn't very much a night owl. Sometimes this can manifest in increased boredom, or an increase in appetite.

The latter was certainly on the mind of security guard Marcus Hal, who was feeling out his stomach…there was defiantly something missing where he was concerned, and he needed to fill up that hole. Obviously the cafeterias were all shut at this hour so his mind turned to more unhealthy things like candy and fizzy drinks, which were readily available at the twenty four-hour shops in the village.

The obvious problem was how to get there without up and abandoning his post.

Sensing his desperation was his friend Hutchison, who approached him with an offer

"Hard day, harder night on the way Marcus, go into town and get some refreshments, I'll take over your shift" Hutchison proposed. Marcus was pleased, but hesitant

"I don't know…that division is probably our highest level priority, it could cost me my job if I were to leave my post" he elaborated.

"Hey, you've known me for fifteen years, I know the length and breadth of the place, you'll only be gone an hour, nothing will happen in that time with my expertise"

"Thanks Hutchison, you're a real pal" Marcus spoke, expressing gratitude. He patted Hutchison on the shoulder and dashed towards the exit, eager to feast on whatever he could find at the stores.

Hutchison watched him go, waited until he was clear of the corridor, and allowed a smug smile to stretch across his face.

"And you're a real putz" Hutchison said to himself, and walked down the hall towards the guarded door, the numbers marked "TC 1". Standing outside for a couple of minutes, Hutchison sharply looked out for any cameras, sure enough, he spotted one. He took out a small pen knife from his lab coat pocket and aimed it at the surveillance equipment.

Inside the main control hub, those watching the activity of the camera on the monitors were treated to a breif fault, producing nothing but static. When the visuals were restored, they could see Hutchison again standing outside the door, his arms folded, whistling a merry tune.

All seemed well.

To an average eye, an average man, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However, extraordinary means were being used to deceive these observers. The Hutchison they were viewing was a hologram recording, designed to buy time for the real one as he entered TC-1.

Once inside, Hutchison utlized the same trick to another camera, creating the i

"Hutchison to Doc Terror, I'm in" Hutchison spoke, connecting to the well-feared mad scientist over the com-link.

"Good" Terror replied, satisfied with the smoothness of the operation thus far, "Secure the Terra-Scope and place the teleport tags on it"

Hutchison reached into his side pocket again and produced two small circular objects fitted with small buttons and a digital LCD screen, and placed them to the right and left of the orb, like magnets, they latched onto it.

"Punch in the following co-ordinates" Terror spoke, Hutchison punched in a series of numbers using the small buttons on the circles.

"My men will handle everything from that point onwards" Terror revealed.

From his end, deep within his secret fortress somewhere nearby, Terror flicking a switch on his main computer console.

Back at the facility, Hutchison stood back and watched as the Terra-Core was engulfed in a flash of light and instantly vanished, beamed away to a new location

"Now that you have fulfilled your part of the bargin, allow me to provide you with a most significant cut" Terror promised, and pressed another button on his console.

Outside, the hologram of Hutchison faded from view, and the contents of "TC-1" presented a far different view of things to the people observing the monitors. It was now that ordinary eyes turned into keen and sharp ones, it became clear there was someone stepping outside of their jurisdiction, and that something of vital importance was missing from the centre of the room. A command was given, and an alarm was raised.

Once the alarm flared into life, Hutchison reacted with _instant_ fear. In what seemed to be such a smooth operation, something had gone wrong…but how? It was foolproof.

His suspicions kicked in, and he came to a conclusion so obvious, he cursed himself for not having the patience to contemplate it sooner. Terror had set him up.

"What have you done?" he asked of Terror

"We need someone to provide these insolent fools with an answer as to who could possibly have delivered the Terra Core into my hands, you will tell them everything I want them to know" Terror explained

"What about my money? You promised me" Hutchison demanded.

"Now now Mr. Munroe,. Need I remind you that we are currently in a recession?" Terror joked, and cut off his transmission, leaving Hutchison to his fate as the guards poured into the room.

As Hutchison was forced to re-examine his deal with the devil and face up to his crime, the fate of the Terra-Core lay elsewhere, atop a clifface looking over a stretch of beach.

There, Hacker, Doc Terror's right-hand Cyborg, along with a few other men, were awaiting the arrival of the Terra-Core. In another bright and quick flash of light, the Terrra Core materialized. Hacker contracted Doc Terror on his own hand-link

"Our package has arrived" Hacker confirmed to his boss. Terror immediately laid out the remaining phases of the operation to his henchmen

"Apply the Terra-Core to the accelerator I have supplied you with." Terror instructed. Hacker ordered two of his own henchmen to carry the orb over to a large truck, a large black sheet covering up something on the back.

The swift removal of the sheet revealed a white, multi-dial piece of technological apparatus with what appeared to be a sattelite-esque device fitted to the center of it.

"Place it on the space left for it on the device" Terror continued, Hacker's men did as they were told, fitting the Terra-core just behind the satellite array.

"Aim the Accelerator towards the beachfront, trigger the Terra-Core on my command" Terror continued. Once this particular task was accomplished, Terror stalled himself, taking the time to examine the area. Once he was satisfied that the accelerator was in perfect synchronicity with the targeted seascape, Terror let out the desired command.

"Now!"

Hacker moved over to the Terra-Core and placed his hand on top of it, gently pressing his fingers down on the rubber digits. In an instant, the orb came to life, a flicker of scarlet red darted around the centre of the device, first very slowly, then rapidly gaining speed. The bright colour danced wildly across the length of the Terra Core, as it did so, the accelerator's main dish began to make a dim hum which gradually built and built, getting louder. Hacker and his troop stood well back as the Accelerator shot forth a string of energy emissions towards the ocean view.

A vast rumbling could be heard in the distance, Hacker looked out to sea, and witnessed something incredible. From of the water arose a towering series of mountains, sitting side by side like neatly aligned dominoes, each new one getting nearer and nearer towards the nearby beach.

Even the sturdy rocks situated on the beach itself were greatly enhanced, turning into mighty pillars of stone that isolated the nearby pathways to the beach, cutting off anyone who tried to approach it.

"Impressive is it not Hacker?" Terror observed, proud of his latest insidious achievement. Hacker and his men, marvelled at the sight, were keen to ask questions.

"What sort of good will making mountains do us?" Hacker inquired.

"If you have to ask that, maybe the rocks in your brain could do with some enhancement as well" Terror cynically responded. "With the power of the Terra-Core, we will be able to take the underappreciated spectacles of the sea and use them to cut humanity and all aquatic sea-life from one of their most essential resources"

"This is really heavy Doc" Hacker joked. Terror didn't laugh, having no time for bad comedy.

"Transport the Terra-Core to the following locations and repeat the exact same process, we must lead by example" Terror commanded.

It would prove to be a busy night for the restless Hacker, as he toured the length of the area via speedboat, applying the Terra-Core's powerful energies to various areas, including Ka'ula, and Makpu'u, raising their already monumentus cliffs to twice their size, overlapping the islands and cutting the inhabitants off from civilization. Whole rivers were also turned into shallow, near-drained rock pulls, with an emphasis on rocks.

With the havoc caused around the targeted areas beginning to pour into worldly news reports , and the theft of the Terra-Core the previous night weighing heavily on them, and the information given to them from a repentant Hutchison, exactly as Terror had anticipated, the World Science Council were all to prepared to contact the one elite group capable of dealing with matters of this magnitude: The Centurions.

Communicating with the hi-tech heroes at their secret base, the New York based "Centrum", a representative of the council went into exact detail regarding the Terra-Core, and what it's primary use was intended to be

"We developed the Terra-Core with the idea of creating a solution and a challenge" he explained, "A solution to the wear and tear inflicted by time on historic landmarks, and to provide frustrated rock climbers with new formations to climb"

"Now Terror is using it to make mountains out of molehills" Ace McCloud angrily quipped to his fellow team-mates, Max Ray and Jake Rockwell

"Mr. McCloud is right in his own humorous way" the representative continued, "Already the Terra-Core has been used to create great structures from the ordinary rock formations that can be found underneath wide lakes or spread around beaches. However, our main fear is that Terror will use the 'core to raise the many vast underwater mountains, creating makeshift dams that will prevent the transportation of goods and services to any neighbouring island, and indeed, it could also Isolate whole countries, with no one able to move beyond a confined space. Aquatic life is also threatened, as they will have no room to properly flourish and scavenge for food"

"This sounds like a real uphill struggle" joked Jake

"Which means we have to find a way to bring these rocks back down to Earth" added Max. "Tell the science council the Centurions will do all we can"

"Thankyou Mr. Ray" the representative spoke in appreciation, "We will update you if, or when, Doc Terror shows his hand. World Council out"

With that, the communication link was cut off and the screen went blank, leaving the Centurions alone to ponder their next move. Max swiftly moved over to a nearby laptop .

"I'm going to do some research on the many islands surrounding Hawaii, If most of these incidents are originating from there, it means Terror is nearby, we can hopefully track and stop him before he can move onwards"

"Meanwhile, we'll beam over to Makapu'u and scope out the damage done to the nearby town's beach" Ace added, heading over to the Beaming Chamber with Jake and his dog Shadow. "Besides, I could do with a two hour vacation, this job doesn't leave room for any months or weeks for that sort of thing"

As the two Centurions and Shadow entered the chamber, they contacted Skyvault and instructed their faithful watcher Crystal Kane to transport all three to their destination. Max turned his inquiries to the internet, browsing through the laundry list of islands on offer in the area.

Back inside his secret fortress, deep within Keanapuka Island, Doc Terror anxiously awaited the arrival of the now knackered Hacker and his men. Spotting their speed-boat from an observation window in the center of the base, Terror opened the base's doors. Hacker and his heavies braved the powerful torrents of rain, a regular occurrence for the island's location, as they poured down over them en route to the warm recesses of the lair

Making his way up to Terror's control room, Hacker presented him with the Terra-Core/Accelerator hybrid. Terror took the device and walked over to a table scattered with work tools, and began to examine and make adjustments to his semi-invention.

"It worked like a charm Doc" Hacker remarked

"You have done well" Terror said with an all too rare form of compliment "The accelerator has created the perfect brand of obstruction, now we must move on to our real targets"

Terror finished the upgrades to the Accelerator, which now sported two magnets and an additional, smaller diamond-shaped trinket at the center of the Terra-Core. He presented Hacker with a sheet of metal and a remote control device.

Terror turned his attention to his main control console, switching over to his "eyes in the sky", cameras fitted to his Doom Drone Strayfers and sea-faring attack borgs were combing the sector above Maunea Keya, Hawaii's largest underwater mountain

The activity of the Strayfers was enough to prompt an alert Crystal Kane aboard Skyvault to contact Max and inform him of what was going on.

"It's best to let me and Ace take care of things" Max advised. Crystal agreed and got in touch with Ace.

"Ace, Max wants you and him to take out Terror's fleet at Maunea Keya." Crystal explained, "Be careful though" she cautioned, "They may have the Terra-Core with them. The Science Council recently informed me that it carries a means of reversing it's effects, so we can't risk damaging it"

"Right" Ace acknowledged, "All I need to do is shake Terror at HIS core. I'm on top of things beautiful"

"Assembling Skyknight now" Crystal spoke, and began punching in instructions for the Skyvault computer. The Beaming Chamber brought out the Skyknight weapon system and prepped it for transportation to the Earth below

"Excuse me while I kiss the sky Jake" Ace joked, and stood with his arms spread out in a gallant pose, ready to receive Skyknight.

"Beaming" Crystal said, switching on the chamber's teleportation circuits. The Skyknight weapons system vanished in a blur of blue light and was shot down towards Ace and Jake's location

"POWER X-TREME" Ace yelled. In a matter of seconds the Skyknight weapon system latched onto him. Ace didn't waste time, taking off and cutting through the sky en route to Maunea Keya

"Guess all that's left is me and my shadow" Jake said, looking at his faithful dog.

"Preparing Tidal Blast for beam-down now Max, get ready" Crystal revealed to Max in Centurm as he made his way to his h.q's beaming chamber.

"All set Crystal" Max revealed. Crystal transported him to the underwater mountain, instructing the computer to beam down and fit Tidal Blast to him as soon as he arrived.

Being underwater, Max couldn't quite manage his own bellow of "POWER X-TREME", and so accepted the latching of Tidal Blast onto his exo-frame with silence. The silence was followed by a deafening sound of laser fire slicing through the calm and sure ocean, as Terror's sea 'borgs caught site of Max and unleashed their weapons.

Max fought back, firing one of Tidal Blast's twin rockets. He was able to take out two borgs with one shot as he precisely grouped two of them in his sights and struck quick.

He continued to exchange laser fire using his own blasted attached to his arm. He cut his way through the 'borgs underwater and moved upwards to the surface. Upon surfacing, he caught a glimpse of Ace fearlessly dog fighting in the air, taking out several 'Strafers.

As the battle went in the Centurions favour, Max felt more than a little uneasy.

"Something's up here" Max thought to himself, "The 'Borgs don't seem to be armed with the Terra-Core, and there not putting up much of a fight"

Max contacted Ace, "Ace" he said, "How's things up there?"

"Probably one of the easiest dog-fights I've ever engaged in Max" Ace revealed, "It's like trying to drive away a flock of seagulls than dealing with a real threat"

"It's almost as if Terror deliberately targeted Maunea Keya to play with our expectations" Max theorized

"But if the mountain isn't his true target…what is?" Ace asked.

Back at the terrain-coated Hawaiian beach, Jake and Shadow continued to examine the area, a little bit of boredom setting in on Jake's part.

Suddenly, Shadow began acting up.

"What is it Shadow?" Jake asked of his faithful companion, who continued to look very alert, his instincts telling him something was up. Shadow quickly darted up one of the many rock formations on the island to get a better view, Jake following him. Jake looked out at what passed for open sea, and saw something approaching on the horizon. Jake peeked through a pair of binoculars for a closer look at what appeared to be a small speedboat carrying four men, the apparatus they were taking with them looked similar to images he had seen of the Terra-Core. As the boat got closer, he recognized one of the men

"Hacker!" Jake realized.

Jake was not the only one to engage in a spot of sight-seeing, as Hacker also scoped out the figure standing atop the large rock-like structure.

"There's one lone stinking Centurion still here Doc" Hacker revealed to Doc Terror over his com-link

"No matter" Terror responded, "One on five are acceptable odds with the precious minutes allocated to us. Even if he's able to fend off your men, he won't be in time to stop you. Proceed with the mission"

Hacker acknowledged and prepped himself for an undersea task, fitting himself with diving equipment. He gave his men several laser rifles and ordered them to keep the lone Centurion busy, before taking the Terra-Core and diving off the boat.

Jake immediately contacted Skyvault to alert Crystal, and, through her, the other Centurions

"Crystal, Terror's striking here…looks like his goons are on patrol too" Jake explained

"So the attack on Maunea Keya was a distraction" Crystal realized. "What do you need Jake?" She asked

"Hook me up with Wild Weasel…I can't do much underwater so get Max here as soon as you can, I'll mow over these marauders" Jake revealed.

"Assembling Wild Weasel" Crystal confirmed, putting together the Centurion's vehicular land-roving weapons system. In a wave of energy, it was beamed towards Jake

"POWER X-TREME" Jake cried to the heavens. Once Wild Wesel had successfully latched onto him, Jake sped towards the beachfront, doing his best to navigate around the huge rocks in his path, and headed towards one of the few free openings on the beach, it wasn't big enough to commence a mass evacuation of the island, but it provided just enough room for small boats like Hacker's to reach the mainland.

Met with a barrage of energy blasts from Hacker's henchmen, Jake retaliated with his own brand of firepower, scattering the henchmen in several directions. Some ducked under the heavy terrain around them and used it as a shield, taking shots at the lone Centurion. Jake converted Wild Weasel to it's upright, attack stance mode, exchanging numerous blasts with the underlings.

Underwater, Hacker continued his descent towards the underbelly of the island, with Terror frequently patching in to the com-link in Hacker's scuba helmet to give him orders.

"Fasten the Accelerator to the base of the island " Terror commanded, Hacker nodded in agreement, and took the Accelerator, protected by some waterproof modifications made by Terror earlier, and used the magnets strapped to it to anchor it to the dormant rock in front of him, he placed the antenna array in the direction of the island and operated the remote control

"I will not limit myself to merely raising uninhabited rocks and mountains" Terror proclaimed, "Now that the custom "damns" have completly encircled the area, I will turn the accelerator on the island itself, raising it high above even the tallest of my new landscapes, and completely isolate it's people from the safety of land"

Hacker's mission was swiftly interrupted by a series of laser blasts, he turned around, and was greeted by a fully primed Max Ray in Tidal-Blast

"We've got more Centurions on the way Doc" Hacker warned.

"They must have figured out our little tour of duty at Mona Kea was a distraction, no matter, I have a direct link to the Terra-Core from my control console, let's see just how well the Centurions can withstand the altitude I was about to unleash"

Terror operated his console, and the Terra-Core began to flare into life. In a matter of a few seconds, the entire island began to be raised, first in meters, and then shooting to large stretches. Hacker made good his escape, charging at Max and pushing him out of the way, Max launched a small dart-like probe which latched itself on to Hacker's free arm. Max patched in to Ace, who was still fighting Doom-Drones at Maunea Keya

"Ace, I've tagged Hacker with a homing beacon, follow him to Doc Terror's hideout" Max instructed, before heading to the surface to help out Jake, who was still battling Terror's henchmen. Joining his fellow Centurion in battle, the two were able to withstand the barrage of Terror's brutes. The earthquakes being generated by the raising island also made it easier to lure the crooks out of hiding, given that they were easily swept left and right. The Centurions were barely able to keep traction themselves as the battle was cut short by the crisis.

The underlings raced for their boat, only to find it commandeered by Hacker, who swiftly sped off without them. With nowhere to go, and the energies in their weapons spent, they quickly surrendered. The Centurions were more concerned with the current threat, the very island.

Max made the decision to head back underwater "Hacker left the Terra-Core down there, I'll see if I can retrieve it" he explained,

Diving back into the depths Max approached Terror's accelerator delicately, but watching events from his island base was Terror, and he was prepared for any untimely intervention. From his console, he punched in a series of instructions picked up by the Accelerator's automated defence systems. Small pockets opened up in the magnets attached to the device and small dotted holes appeared. At the push of a button from Terror, the magnets became a lethal firewall, shooting wildly at Max, preventing him from nearing the device.

Meanwhile, Ace was zeroing in on Hacker as he approached Terror's secret base at Keanapuka, but the Centurion's arch-foe was watching events unfold. Hacker's timing could not be worse.

"You fool Hacker, you've led my enemies right to me" Terror bellowed, berating his underling over the com-link.

"Not to worry Doc, I'll just patch into the Terra-Core from my remote control here and before you know it, this Centurion will be on the rocks" Hacker gloated

"No, you fool, you can't divert power from the accelerator, not now" Terror commanded, but Hacker's impatience and ignorance had gotten the best of him, he operated the remote.

The Accelerator began to transmit to Terror's frequency, causing underwater rocks to rise forth and pierce their way out of the ocean. Ace had to do some expert flying to avoid the jagged juggernaughts as they rose to the left and right of him.

"Computer, beam Skybolt to Ace" Crystal instructed, believing Ace needed to be more well equipped.

Ace's weapon systems switched, and, with more firepower on his side, Ace took the fight to Terror, shooting missiles at the structures, the debris from the massive explosions tore into Terror's island base, making him regret installing a clear observation window as rocks crashed through it. Ace, realizing he had scored a crucial hit, diverted his flight-plan and began firing at the raised rocks from angles that enabled the debris to tear through Terror's h.q.

The combination of distraction and destruction at Terror's location was more than noticeable to Max, as the Terra Core Accelerator had ceased firing upon the Centurion, Hacker having diverted all it's crucial power into attacking Ace.

With the opportunity presenting itself, Max contacted Crystal yet again, this time requesting the command codes supplied by the World Science Council, the codes that would enable him to trigger the Terra-Core's reverse mechanism. With no way to defend itself, the Accelerator was in Max's hands.

With the reverse codes transmitted to him by Crystal, Max finished work on the secured Terra Core, and, with the Accelerator still operational, it began to reduce the mountain structures in size, ending the threat to Ace over at Keanapuka.

Ace caught site of Hacker's boat and prepared to pick him up. Suddenly, in a blaze of light, Hacker vanished. He'd been beamed away.

Ace looked around for sight of his foe, and managed to catch a fletting glimpse of Terror's mothership speeding away into the distance.

"Ace? Is everything alright on your end?" Came a voice from Ace's wrist-watch, it was Max.

"Terror's gotten away" Ace confirmed

"He'll rise to the surface again in due course Ace" Max assured him, "And when he does, we'll send him on a freefall he'll never forget"

"It seems he dropped a little something on his way up" Ace observed, spotting the remote control on one of the boat's seats. "This should come in handy"

Ace touched down, grabbed the remote, and toggled with it a little, which placed the satellite array in the direction of the Hawaian island, allowing it to return to it's normal state.

A few hours after this was accomplished, the Accelerator and it's remote control were handed over to the Terra-Core's original developers, who used it to free up the oceans and areas of land affected by the rock structures.

Back at Skyvault, Jake and Max toasted the end of a successful mission

"I know I won't be going rock climbing again in a hurry" Jake joked, Max agreed. "I don't think any of us could have dealt with a descent in this case" he added

"Where's Ace anyway?" Jake asked, "He's usually renowned as Mr. High and Mighty"

Sure enough, in the main control room of Skyvault, lodged in Crystal Kane's elevating chair, Ace was making another conquest as he passionately locked lips with her.

"Mr. McCloud, you really can move mountains" Crystal replied, much to Ace's delight

**THE END**

* * *

**CENTURIONS FACTS:**

"**The largest and youngest of the Hawaiian islands is known as "The Big Island", it is comprised of five volcanoes. Half of the island is made up of the largest shielded volcano on Earth, Mauna Luna, which stretches more than 4Km from sea level to summit"**

**-Jake**


End file.
